Blizzard President and Employees Clarify the Situation Amid AI Patent Controversy

Blizzard Entertainment president Mike Ybarra and Hearthstone design manager Brenden Sewell have both spoken publicly to defend Blizzard against a recent AI controversy. An AI patent from Blizzard has surfaced, which started a divisive conversation online about AI and how Blizzard is allegedly looking to use AI-generated artwork in its games.

However, it’s now been clarified by Blizzard Entertainment’s president and employees that the company isn’t resorting to AI to create game artwork for them. It was an article by GameRant which claimed that the patent from Blizzard indicates that the company is looking to use AI artwork for their games.

Blizzard will always strive to maintain Blizzard quality. You’re trying to associate recent AI advances (generative AI) to something completely unrelated. @brendensewell says it well here: https://t.co/FXA7WKz2XL. Our approach at Blizzard is to use machine learning and AI in ways… https://t.co/GljUqtkwEb

— Mike Ybarra (@Qwik) May 5, 2023

Former Blizzard game designer Eric Covington took to Twitter to vent his frustration and said that his “artist colleagues deserve better.” That’s when Hearthstone design manager Sewell replied to Covington’s concerns. He clarified that the patent was filed in 2020 and Blizzard has been using machine learning to automate menial tasks.

Hearthstone features lead Chadd Nervig added more context by highlighting a recent interview World of Warcraft game director Ion Hazzikostas had with IGN. Hazzikostas told IGN that Blizzard has already been using machine learning for “just automating really arduous, painful tasks like fitting helms around Blood Elf ears and so forth, where it’s more just, let’s free up some time so that our really talented artists can make more amazing creative art instead of doing that fiddly work.”

That’s when Blizzard Entertainment president Ybarra also joined the Twitter thread. He tweeted, “Blizzard will always strive to maintain Blizzard quality. You’re trying to associate recent AI advances (generative AI) to something completely unrelated.”

Given the recent AI trend and how dangerously easy it has become to steal other people’s work using it, Covington’s concerns weren’t misplaced. However, it seems like Blizzard isn’t looking to switch to AI artwork for its games. The company has been automating the menial and tedious tasks so that game designers can focus more on the design element, and utilise their time and efforts in creative work.